near to Purton, Gloucestershire, Great Britain

Hulk, Ships Graveyard, Purton, Gloucestershire (8)

This is a one of about thirty ships and boats beached on this stretch of the Severn estuary. These hulks were deliberately placed here to protect the adjacent Gloucester and Sharpness Canal from the threat to it posed by erosion of the river bank. Erosion episodes occurred in 1909 and 1951. The presence of the hulks interferes with the flow of the tide and causes the deposition of silt thus keeping the river at bay. This is 'Rockby', a Stroudwater barge built in the 1890s and beached in 1946.